Eddie Redmayne to Star in Harry Potter Spinoff 'Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them'
It's official -- Warner Bros. has found their lead star for the Harry Potter spinoff, "Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them." The studio recently announced that Eddie Redmayne has officially signed on to play the role of Newt Scamander, the magizoologist in the world of Harry Potter.
This announcement was made a few weeks after reports came out that he was in negotiations for the said role.
Eddie Redmayne is known for his recent role as Stephen Hawking in the movie "The Theory of Everything." He was also in "Les Miserables." His character in the upcoming movie is that of Newt Scamander, the magizoologist who discovered and chronicled different types and kinds of magical creature in his travels in the magical world. He eventually wrote the textbook "Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them" which became required reading in the Hogwarts School of Wizardry.
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The book which the movie is based on was penned by J.K. Rowling and published in 2001. Warner Bros. and Rowling previously agreed on doing a trilogy of movies based on the book in late 2013.
The movie's story will bring viewers to New York, 70 years before Harry Potter, sometime in the 1920s. It will follow the life of Newt Scamander, especially his adventures that led him to document the magical creatures he describes in his book.
J.K. Rowling will also be the screenwriter for the first film -- a first for the long-time book author. David Yates, who also directed the last four films in the Harry Potter franchise, comes back to direct. In early 2015, Warner Bros. brought in Steve Kloves to work with Rowling on the screenplay. Kloves is credited for screenwriting seven out of the eight Harry Potter films.
Female leads have yet to be cast, but reports are saying that Saoirse Ronan, Dakota Fanning and Lili Simmons are being considered for the role of Tina, while Kate Upton, Katherine Waterson and Elizabeth Debicki are being considered for Tina's older sister, Queenie.
"Fantastic Beasts" is a planned trilogy, with the first film to be released Nov. 18, 2016.
